NORWALK -- For the second time in three days, the Norwalk-Brien McMahon ice hockey co-op went into the second period of a game at SoNo Ice House within striking distance of its opponent.

For the second time in three days, however, the opponent -- on Saturday afternoon it was the co-op of Housatonic-Northwestern-Wamogo -- pulled away for the win over the final 30 minutes of game action.

Housatonic turned a 1-0 lead after one period into a 5-0 advantage after two, before wrapping up a 6-1 win and evening its record at 1-1.

Norwalk-McMahon fell to 1-2, and will return to action Wednesday against Sheehan at SoNo at 8 p.m.

"We came out a little flat, and a tip my hat to (Housatonic head coach) Dean Diamond," said Norwalk-McMahon head coach Dan Feighan. "He's a long-time nemesis and friend. They had a one-goal lead for a while and we couldn't break through. We give the utmost respect to Housatonic and its staff."

A scrum in front of junior goalie Anthony Chiaramonte (21 saves in two periods of work) led to Cory Bardino and Drew Donzella setting up Brian Denenholtz for the stuff-in goal six minutes into the first period that made it 1-0 for the Mountaineers.

"Years ago, when we started playing, we had the advantage, then Norwalk started winning," Diamond said of the home team's recent seven-of-eight wins in the series. "We had six players score goals today, we spread the puck around, and we didn't have a lot of penalties. We showed patience. It's nice playing Norwalk. Dan has a good program, and he cares a lot about his kids."

Captain Ralph Folino put his team up 2-0 1:12 into the second period on a quick rush up the right wing, after passes from Liam Bamberg and Andy Shepherd got the play started.

Sixteen seconds later, Angus Gracey sent a shot from the left side off the post, but the carom came right to Wes Reel, who found the back of the net for a 3-0 margin.

"Our break-out was a lot more fluent, we've been working hard in practice, and we didn't let the streak get in our heads," Folino said in explaining the Mountaineers snapping their recent woes against Norwalk-McMahon. "It's nice when it's not one guy scoring, and not just one line playing the whole game. Everybody is chipping in. Everybody is real happy we won and got to 1-1. We play Fitch next. We want to get to 2-1 and take another step toward states."

Norwalk-McMahon failed to produce any offense on four minutes of power plays later in the second period, and the visitors made them pay for it.

Off a faceoff deep in the home zone, Shepherd got the puck to Ryan Cunningham behind the net. Cunningham came out to Chiaramonte's right and snuck the puck inside the post to stake his team to a 4-0 advantage with 3:27 left in the period.

Another scramble just outside the Norwalk-McMahon crease 37 seconds later allowed James Huften to poke the puck over the goal line, with an assist going to Gracey.

At the 8:50 mark of the third period, Bardino and Denenholtz set up Donzella for a snap shot from top of the left circle that beat freshman goalie Phillip Uva to make the score 6-0.

Uva would make several outstanding saves -- eight total in his third period between the pipes -- in the closing minutes to keep Housatonic at bay.

With the Mountaineers on the power play a couple minutes later, junior forward Ryan Suchsland swiped the puck from Bamberg near center ice and rushed the other way.

A couple of nifty moves, and Suchsland flicked the puck behind goalie Joe Bazzano (seven saves) to avert the shutout with 4:45 remaining in the game.

"Ryan is leading the team in points right now," Feighan said. "He broke the shutout with a nice shorthanded goal."

For his part, Suchsland could not explain the less-than-stellar effort.

"It was inexcusable; we can't come out flat," Suchsland said. "We took a lot of penalties, and they outshot us 35-8. When you don't put the puck on net you're not going to score. We were shorthanded, and I was trying to get the puck out of our zone. I just got the puck and put it in. Obviously we have to come out with more enthusiasm, put the puck on net, and take less penalties. There's no doubt we have two great goalies. When Anthony leaves, we have another great one behind him."